If You Find Yourself Accidentally on I-395 South of DC, Having Mistakenly Crossed into Virginia, and Need to Turn Around

[DonRocks]

I know this is going to sound odd, but I had some extra time on my hands the other day, and was heading down I-395, having just crossed the Potomac River into Virginia. I was wondering what a tourist would do if they were in this same situation, with zero knowledge of local roads.

There is salvation!

If you find yourself mistakenly having crossed the Potomac River into Virginia on I-395, you have an *easy turnaround* that very few people know about. 

It may be possible to do a cloverleaf-U-turn on the George Washington Memorial Parkway (which is a clusterf**k of three different exits: 10A, 10B, and 10C) - I haven't attempted this specific maneuver - but just beyond that exit (about 1/4 mile), there's a virtually unknown exit which people drive past tens-of-thousands of times every day without even knowing what it is, or where it goes. I had some time on my hands, so I took it just to see where I'd end up: It's Exit 9 (there is only one Exit 9 southbound, so you don't have to worry about this 10A, 10B, and 10C stuff): Exit 9 is called "Clark Street."

Here is the map which you should refer to after (or while) reading this post.

You will notice on the map that Exit 9, Clark Street, has a cloverleaf at I-395, but it's not as obvious as most cloverleaf-style exits are. If you want to get back into DC, take the exit, and then hug the right of the road for as long as you possibly can. You will go around a cloverleaf, and end up on a barren-looking street which (I assume) is S. Clark Street, and if you keep hugging the right (and I mean, take the first possible right exit you see), you'll end up back on I-395 Northbound, having taken the second leaf of the cloverleaf, and you'll be back in DC within two minutes. There's even a sign to direct you! Simple!

There's only one thing you need to beware of: At the point where you exit back onto I-395 North, you'll have a choice to make - if you hug the right like you're supposed to do, you'll be safely home in two minutes, but if you take the left fork in the road, you'll go through a very forlorn stretch of pavement that looks like the bombed-out remnants of a third-world country. This road is called "Long Bridge Drive," and you *don't want to take it* (refer to the map up above).

However, if you *do* take it, after spending about fifteen seconds thinking you've died, and have been reincarnated in post-war Kandahar or Kosovo, and realizing your life is about to end for real, you emerge into something that can only be properly termed "a miracle." You emerge, rather unbelievably ... here.